Baleaf is a brand known for quality, budget apparel and is also a winner in our Best Shorts for Thru-hiking guide. Designed as a fishing shirt, the Sun Stretch was meant for keeping fly fishing accessories accessible. Comfort and a full range of motion is important, so we recommend choosing athletic shirts that uses performance fabrics making the shirt stretchy and breathable. The Ridge Merino Solstice was long enough to provide complete protection without feeling loose enough to get in the way.

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The Solstice Hoodie has a loose yet flattering fit (in both men’s and women’s models) that has plenty of airflow, preventing overheating. The women's version in particular had a scoop neck cut that didn't offer as much protection as we want.In addition, the Ridge provides full coverage with a high neckline, adjustable hood, and thumbholes that keep the sleeves over the backs of hands. But it says that there could be an advantage to wearing loose dark-colored clothing to create a "chimney effect" whereby heat builds in the space between the clothes and the body and then escapes in the wind. The Ushood Liteside Sun Shirt ( unisex) is a summer twist on a snowsport design to prevent gappage — the gap between your helmet and goggles. You may also need some kind of neck covering, depending on how much coverage your hoodless sun shirt provides. While we didn't disqualify scoop necks from our testing process (after all, a neck gaiter or bandana can provide more customizable sun protection than built-in protection), we found that higher-necked sun shirts make sure that you don't opt out of protecting a vulnerable part of your body.

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Although that story was about hats, what I learned about the sun scared some sense into me; I've been wearing sun protective clothing (and looking for the perfect one! But science has notoriously left People of Color out of health studies—so there’s still a lot unknown about skin cancer in People of Color.Out of the hundreds of items that market themselves as sun shirts, we needed to find the most promising models to move onto the testing round.